Civil Case

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
MAKATI, BR.____

Civil Case No. 00-1029 (Injunction with Damages)

AL-AMANAH ISLAMIC INVESTMENT
BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES
Plaintiff,

VERSUS

DAUD GABRIEL MANGOMPIA, USMAN D. RASUMAN, ELIAS PANCOGA,
ABDUL GANI PAULINO, GRANDE M. DIANATON, ABDEL LEONID S. DIMAPUNONG,
ABDUL GAFFOOR ASHROOF, TAMMY CHUN, YING CHEUNG, DAVID SATINOVER,
KYM ARTHUR ROY, JESUS VARELA, DIANATOON, MAUMAR B. BADIO, ELIZA D. MANGOMPIA, HASSANA DIMAPUNONG.

Defendants,

X————————————————————————————X

C O M P L A I N T
FOR INJUNCTION WITH A PRAYER FOR
THE ISSUANCE OF A WRIT OF PRELIMINARY
INUNCTION AND/OR A TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER

COMES NOW, Plaintiff, AL-AMANAH ISLAMIC INVESTMENT BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES (ISLAMIC BANK for brevity), through the undersigned counsel and unto this Honorable Court, respectfully alleges that:

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

1. This is a complaint for injunction and damages with a prayer for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order, being filed by and in behalf of the legitimate stockholders of the Islamic bank and being filed by and in behalf of the legitimate stockholders of the Islamic Bank and its legitimate Board of Directors and the incumbent Chairman and Chief Executive Officer thereof to, among others finally check and put a stop to the fraudulent and utterly nefracious activities being perpetrated by and the usurpation of authority by one DAUD GABRIEL MANGOMPIA and his above-named defendants, who openly, scandalously, brazenly and shamelessly misrepresent themselves to the general public as Chairman/ CEO and Directors and corporate officers, respectively of the Islamic Bank plaintiff herein and, thereby solicit investments from the investing public, both locally and abroad, by fraudulently issuing shares of stock of the Islamic Bank without lawful authority and to the damage and prejudice of the genuine Islamic Bank, the legitimate owners thereof and the general public. That unless restrained in the meantime by a temporary restraining order and/or a writ of preliminary injunction, further grave and irreparable damage and prejudice shall be caused by the defendants upon the plaintiff, especially considering that the plaintiff, being a government owned Muslim bank, is now in the process of privatization.

II

THE PARTIES

2. Plaintiff is a government owned and controlled corporation created by and existing pursuant to the authority of Republic Act No. 6848, the Plaintiff’s Charter, represented herein by its duly elected Chairman and CEO, Engr. Farouk A. Carpizo, with office address at the G/F – NDC Building, 116 Tordesillas St., Salcedo Village, Makati City, where it can be served with processes of this Honorable Court;

3. The defendants, on the other hand are persons misrepresenting themselves to be the officers and directors of the ISLAMIC BANK, and who may all be served with summons and other processes of this Honorable Court, at their purported office address at Monte de Oro- Islamic Bank Building, No. 80 Monte de Piedad, St., Cubao, Quezon City;

III

STAETEMENT OF THE CASE

4. The defendants for quite some time, have been unduly and unlawfully misrepresenting themselves to the general public both in the Philippines and abroad that, they represent the true and genuine Islamic Bank and that, accordingly, they illegally solicited and still solicit from the general public, huge amounts of investments which in fact, are not duly recognized by and duly recorded with the plaintiff bank.

5. In order to give these illegal operations of the defendants, a semblance of legitimacy and thereby further convince other innocent investors, the defendants boldly but in defiance of law, even officially communicated with the BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS (BSP for brevity), reporting their alleged corporate activities, including the election of their alleged officers and the alleged investments in their alleged Islamic Bank by their investors, from whom the defendants have gathered huge sums of money.

In support hereof, hereto attached as Annex “A” and made an integral part hereof is a copy of the leter of defendant DAUD GABRIEL MANGOMPIA dated August 18, 1999, addressed to Hon. Deputy Governor Alberto V. Reyes (Supervision and Examination Sector, Dept. of Commercial Banks I, -BSP), wherein the said defendant reported their official address as at – No. 80 Monte de Piedad Street, Cubao, Quezon City, effective September 1, 1999.

Likewise attached is the letter of August 19, 1999 to the Hon. Deputy Governor Alberto V. Reyes—BSP, on the subject of defendants’ alleged election of directors and officers, named and pictured therein and reporting their alleged corporate and solicitation activities, consisting of six pages and which are hereto attached and marked as ANNEX – “B”, “B-1″, “B-2″, “B-3″, “B-4″, and “B-5″ hereof, respectively.

The defendants have no right to represent to the public that they constitute the ISLAMIC BANK, much less, to be the officers thereof- – the true and genuine ISLAMIC BANK, being, the plaintiff herein, whose official office address (Executive Offices) in Makati City is at the G/F – NDC Building, 116 Tordesillas St., Salcedo Village, Makati City. The true and official members thereof, and and official members of the Board of Directors of the ISLAMIC BANK, are those who are officially certified to as such by its Corporate Secretary, CARLOS R. CRUZ, and whose names and designations are as follows:

NAME:				ENTITY REPRESENTED		POSITION

FAROUK A. CARPIZO		National Government		CEO-Chairman
IKRAM A. TAWASIL		National Government		Director
ABDUL Y. HADJUSALAM ALHADI 	National Government		Director
USTADJ AHMED ALI BUD		National Government		Director
TUPAAN DATU IMAM		National Government		Director
RENATO B. VALDECANTOS		Asset Privatization Trust	Director
PANSER E. TUMANGAN		D.B.P				Director
AIDA C. NOSCETE			G.S..I.S			Director
EDGAR B. SOLILAPSI		S.S.S				Director

Attached are the copies of the following official documents, oficially recognized by the Office of the President of the Philippines as follows:

1) ANNEX “C” – Transmittal letter of Executive Secretary Ronaldo V. Zamora dated June22, 1999 OFICIALLY TRANSMITTING THE LETTER OF NOMINATION BY President Joseph Estrada of Mr. Farouk A. Carpizo as Chairman/CEO of the Islamic Bank, as well as the other directors thereof;

2) ANNEX “D” – Said nomination letter of President Joseph Estrada, dated June 22, 1999 duly signed by him;

3) ANNEX “E” – Resolution No. 0599 of the Islamic Bank adopted during the annual stockholders meeting of June 30, 1999 affirming the election of Mr. Carpizo and of the elected Directors of the Islamic Bank;

4) ANNEX “F” Letter of the BSP, thru Ms. Ma. Corazon Guerrero, Officer in Charge of the Dept. of Commercial Banks I dated August 25, 1999 oficially affirming that the Monetary Board issued its resolution No. 1129 dated August 13, 1999 confirming the election/appointment of the aforenamed members of the Board of Directors of the Islamic Bank effective June 30, 1999;

5) ANNEX “G” – Photocopy of Mr. Carpizo taking his oath of office before President Estrada last July 13, 1999 at the Malacanang Palace.

7. Reacting to the aforesaid defiant and unlawful misrepresentations of the defendants, the BSP, in its circular letter dated October 11, 1999, duly signed by Officer-in-Charge AMANDO M. TETANGCO, JR. Declared in unequivocal terms, the illegality and unauthorized actuations of the herein named defendants, in the following words, to wit:

Please be advised that the BSP has not authorized the operation of the “ISLAMIC BANK” formed by MR. DAUD GABRIEL MANGOMPIA and other private individuals and private corporations, with office address at No. 3, Block 11, Marawi Avenue, Maharlika Village, Bicutan, Taguig, Metro Manila.

These individuals refer to this so called “ISLAMIC BANK” as the AL-AMANAH ISLAMIC INVESTMENT BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES which they represent however, to be a PRIVATELY OWNED ISLAMIC BANK. Other business address being used by the group include Monte de Oro-Islamic Bank Bldg., No. 80 Monte de Piedad St., Cubao, Quezon City.

In view of their unauthorized activities, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is taking action against these individuals under provisions of Sec. 6 of the General Banking Act, as amended (R.A. No. 337), x x x

Presently, the only Islamic Bank operating in the Philippines is the government owned AL-AMANAH ISLAMIC INVESTMENT BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES (AAIIBP). AAIIBP is duly recognized by the BSP pursuant to the provisions of R.A. 6848 and is owned by the National Government, the Social Security System, the Government Service Insurance System, the Development Bank of the Philippines, and the Asset Privatization Trust. Its Chairman of the Board is Mr. Farouk A, Carpizo whose election/appointment, together with the other members of the board, was confirmed by the Monetary Board, in its resolution No. 1129 dated August 13, 1999.

AAIIBP’s executive office is located at G/F – NDC Building, 116 Tordesillas St., Salcedo Village, Makati City.

(Sgd.) Amando M. Tetangco, Jr.
Officer-in-Charge

A photocopy of the above quoted BSP CIRCULAR is hereto attached as ANNEX- “H” hereof;

8. In the meantime, the defendants continue to violate the General Banking Act, and persist in misrepresenting to the general public that they are the true Islamic Bank, despite official pronouncements from the BSP to the contrary and neither have the defendants ceased nor desisted in their illegal exaction and solicitation of investments into their alleged Islamic Bank, from the unsuspecting public, to the continuing damage and prejudice of the plaintiff, its investors and officers.

9. Moreover, until and unless the defendants are restrained by the Honorable Court by way of a writ of preliminary injunction, the defendants shall persist in their aforesaid illegal activities which shall likewise seriously imperil the privatization efforts of the plaintiff bank, whose prospective investors might be turned-off by the chaos and disorder which the said unlawful activities of the defendants have caused and are still causing up to the present time, to the damage and prejudice of the plaintiff.

10. That in the premises, the plaintiff is entitled to the relief of a writ of preliminary injunction and that , the whole or part of such relief consists in restraining the defendants and all persons acting for them and in their behalf, from continuing with their commission of acts of misrepresentations, unlawful solicitation, and undertaking banking activities, in violation of existing laws and in derogation of the authority of the BSP and the incumbent officials and directors of the plaintiff bank.

11. The plaintiff is willing and able to post such injunction bond in such amount as the Honorable Court may fix, conditioned upon the payment of such damages which the defendants may suffer should it turn out eventually that the plaintiff is not entitled to the relief prayed for herein. In any case, plaintiff prays for the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order which it respectfully submits must forthwith be issued by the Honorable Court to prevent further damage to plaintiff while the application for a wit af preliminary injunction is pending consideration by the Honorable Court.

12. In further suppport of plaintiff’s application for a writ of preliminary injunction and a TRO, likewise attached hereto as ANNEX “I” hereof, is the affidavit of plaintiff’s CEO and Board Chairman Farouk A. Carpizo, attesting to the allegations in the complaint.

13. As a result of the unlawful acts of the defendants as recited above, the plaintiff sustained actual damages in the amount of not less than P2,000.000.00 as of the present time, but which may further increase until unless defendants illegal activities should be held jointly and severally liable with one another in favor of the plaintiff;

14. Due to the prejudice and damage caused to plaintiff by aforesaid continuing illegal activities of the defendants, plaintiff was constrained to engage the legal services of the undersigned counsel in the agreed amount of P250,000.00 as and for attorney’s fees, plus appearance fees of counsel at P2,000.00 per hearing.

15. Judging from the obvious malice, bad faith and malevolent conduct done and exhibited by the defendants in undertaking their aforesaid unlawful misrepresentations and activities as an alleged “bank” notwithstanding the official pronouncements and declarations of the BSP to the contrary, the plaintiff is legally entitled to an award of EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, in the amount of no less than P2,000,000.00 – - to teach the defendants an important lesson that they would not soon forget and to serve as a warning and effective deterrent to others who might be minded to do what the defendants had done and still continue to do.

IV.

PRAYER

WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed that pending full trial on the merits, an Order be issued by the Honorable Court:

A. Granting a TRO and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction ordering the defendants, their employees and all persons acting with them and/or for and in their behalf, to cease and desist immediately, from representing themselves out to the public as the ISLAMIC BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES or as officials thereof, in any capacity, whatsoever, and in conducting any and all forms of solicitation of investments from the general public, or from undertaking any other banking activity which the herein plaintiff is duly authorized to undertake under existing laws;

And that, after due trial on the merits of the subject complaint, judgement be rendered in favor of the plaintiff and against defendants

B. Making the Injunction permanent, and;

C. Ordering the defendants, jointly and severally, to remit unto the plaintiff, the following sums, to wit:

1) P 2,000,000.00 – - AS ACTUAL DAMAGES
2) P 250,000.00 – - AS ATTORNEY’S FEES, plus the appearance fees of counsel at
P2,000.00 per hearing;
3) P 2,000,000.00 – - AS EXEMPLARY DAMAGES
4) Costs of suit

Plaintiff further prays for such other and further relief which the Honorable Court may deem just, expedient and equitable in the premises.

10 May 2000, Quezon City for Makati City

(Sgd.) ALAN ROULLO YAP
Government Corporate Counsel
IBP No. 507152, 04-06-2000, Pasig City

(Sgd.) ELPIDIO J. VEGA
Deputy Government Corporate Counsel
IBP OR No. 492789, 12-29-99, Davao City

(Sgd.) ALDA G. REYES
Assistant Government Corporate Counsel
IBP OR No. 482536, 06-18-99, Quezon City

(Sgd.) DOMINADOR R. ISIDRO
Government Corporate Attorney
IBP OR No. 500327, 02-24-2000, Q.C.
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNMENT CORPORATE COUNSEL
3rd Floor, MWSS Bldg., Katipunan Rd., Old Balara, Q.C.

RELATED FACTS